SR (Social Responsibility) Report Analysis for Chinese Automobile Makers: Comparison with Global Standard, GRI G3.1

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is becoming a more and morecritical issue in China. Not only the Chinese government but also majorSOEs (State Owned Enterprises), small and medium sized firms alreadyhave deeply involved in SR (Social Responsibility) issues. This studyaccessed the recognition gap of Chinese automobile makers for theglobal CSR guideline by investigating their SR reports. As a globalstandard of CSR reporting and performance evaluation, this studyapplied the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guideline G3.1. As a resultthere existed a serious discrepancy between major SOEs’ SR reports andthe global standard as for three aspects; the completeness, themeasurability, and the reliability of the SR report. Most of automobilemakers followed the Chinese own CSR standard, mostly ChineseAcademy of Social Science (CASS) CSR 2.0. However, four globalmakers; GM, Toyota, Volkswagen and Hyundai substantially coveredthe performance indicators of the GRI G3.1 or the ISO26000. It isclosely concerned with the limitation of government‐led CSR initiativesin creating the CSR having ‘Chinese characteristics.’ Further, such acooperative structure among the government, the CSR researchinstitutes and SOEs for taking CSR initiatives without NGOs’monitoring leads to the discrepancy with the global standards.